Tag Archives: animal

It takes a special volunteer to work with rescue animals. Someone who won’t succumb to the whimpering and the sad puppy-dog eyes. Someone who can ignore emotional tugs brought on by that Sarah McLachlan soundtrack. And someone who, above all, is willing to help critters in need.

After spending only a few hours at the Pasadena Humane Society & SPCA, even this writer left with an urge to adopt the shelter’s entire animal population. Yes, the lonely alligator, too.

Shelter volunteer Georgiann Manzo knows that feeling.

“I’ve been here so long that I get attached,” she says.

Her Eagle Rock residence is home to six shelter animals.

Manzo is among hundreds of volunteers who undergo hours and hours of specialized training to help the hundreds more animals that come through the doors of Pasadena Humane. Beginning her animal altruism in 1998 with her daughter, the 65-year-old has become one of the society’s most well-known volunteers.

So you are heading to the Pasadena Humane Society shelter to find a new friend and companion.

The experience can be so nerve-racking and sad: so many dogs, so many sad eyes, so much barking. Most of the time, you don’t know where they came from nor why they wound up in the shelter.

What if you make a mistake and pick the wrong dog?

Take a few tips from Cesar Millan, the dog trainer extraordinaire and star of the National Geographic Channel’s “Dog Whisperer,” who suggests five ways to make sure you choose the right shelter pet for you.